Employment

Mom & Dad don't understand your job? This may help

Bring your parents to work day
VIDEO1:3301:33
Bring your parents to work day

Think about your own mom and dad. Do they really understand what you do for a living? If you answered no, you're in good company.

One in three parents are unfamiliar with what their adult child does at work, according to a new survey from LinkedIn and Opinium Research.

Read MoreMillennials put no stock in equities

LinkedIn wants to fix that as part of its second annual "Bring In Your Parents Day," which it hosted last week in its offices around the world. The work-focused social media company joined with a number of other firms from SAP to British Airways, encouraging businesses to open their doors and give parents a firsthand view of what their adult children do at work.

Bring your parents to work day at Linkedin in New York.
Source: Linkedin

The event is also meant to open up conversations so that adult children learn from their parents. According to the survey, more than 65 percent of American workers believe their parents have unshared knowledge or advice that could potentially help their career.

"I thought he sold advertisements for LinkedIn, and he doesn't do that at all," Joan Douglass told CNBC about her son Christopher Douglass, whose title at LinkedIn is Enterprise Relationship Manager. He helps clients find better ways to recruit through LinkedIn.

His father, Joe Douglass noticed a contrast between his own generation and his son's.

Read MoreThat millennial you're working with may be a jerk

"They don't look at it as a job, they look at it as a purpose," he said. "When you come here, you really see the spirit in them."

One insight many parents found interesting at LinkedIn's New York office was the highly casual environment and free perks not traditionally seen in offices, from free snacks to table tennis.

LinkedIn: Bring mom & dad to work
VIDEO2:5802:58
LinkedIn: Bring mom & dad to work

Shira Selkovits, a senior enterprise relationship manager at LinkedIn, had her parents attend from Pittsburgh. She said even though it was only the second annual event, it's already become something her colleagues look forward to all year. She was disappointed her parents didn't attend last year, so she made sure they visited this year.

"I told them to be themselves, learn and meet as many people as they could," Selkovits said.

"And they're allowed to take more than one bag of M&M's," she laughed.